TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin A Trip to Orient Day

Monday we decided to go to Orient, on purpose because there were no ships in. We didn't have to deal with busses or the madness at Sunset. It was an interesting experience and to me, really scary for the 'new' restaurants on Orient. Stayover visitors have 'learned' to go somewhere else during the closure and if there are no ships in, they seem to have almost no business. Hopefully for them, stayover visitors will soon learn to come back and patronize them.



I wanted to try out Parrotville, a relatively new thing on SXM, again, on a non cruise ship day. That didn't work out so well, as they were closed! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/cry.gif" alt="" /> I saw an article in the Daily Herald about them and said they were open daily, but perhaps as of now, they are only open when ships are in?? We weren't exactly sure exactly how to get there and there were not any signs, that we saw anyway. From the Dutch side, go to the roundabout that is very close to the french border, where the relatively new McDonalds is. For long time visitors, it's where that blind corner used to be. Anyway, at the roundabout, go to your right, like you are going toward Oyster Pond. It's a very short distance there, maybe 1/4 mile on the right. I hope we will make time to get there when it is open. Supposedly, the cost is only $10. We took a picture of the front anyway! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Smile.gif" alt="" />




We were be-bopping along the road toward Orient and went right past it, somewhat befuddled by the sign for the new development there.






This gave us an excuse to go into Paradise View for a couple of minutes. I picked up a very pretty pareo for $6 and took a couple of obligatory pictures.




So, on to Orient, which we had not seen since the new restaurants. The road to Club O is nicely graded now, as well as the road behind the restaurants along Orient. There hasn't been much rain lately, so that situation could certainly change. The parking lot is huge and nice. We walked down the back of the restaurants and checked out the bathrooms. Here is where some of the 'government project' clicked in. The restrooms were nice and very clean, but only three stalls on the women's side--one of which was filled with paper products and cleaning supplies. According to a local lady there, she said that there was no closet made in the building for such things. Really? They are also located ALL the way at the far end from Pedro's, instead of what would seem more logical to me, if they were located in the center.


We walked through one of the shops and I was stunned at the prices.

$25 t-shirts? Really? I know their rents are sky high, but I don't envision them selling too many at that cost. I was also pretty stunned at there was basically no one there.



We sat and had a drink at Brothers and saw several people walking over from Club Orient to take some pictures, but none of the restaurants or bars appeared to have anyone in them. This was around 11:30 AM. Aloha was closed. I DO like the wall, which I think will make a big difference as far as erosion on the beach.



We saw a fellow working on one of the restaurants which is not open yet. I should know his name, but do not. He said that the restaurant would be the Pirate, and it had been Ethnic before. We chatted for a while about the whole project, but he had to get back to work. He had said that he had planned to be open by this coming weekend, but figured it would be a bit longer now, as he wanted to take a bit more time to do things right.


Pedro's actually looked fairly spiffy, to me, for Pedro's that is.




The former stairs are all roped off now and stop several feet before reaching the sand now. You can walk in front of the building to get over toward Club O though. There is a new stairway off to the right of Pedro's now, to reach the sand.

Since we had the camera, we didn't go down to Club O beach, but there looked to be one row of chairs to the Perch, and then about two rows of chairs after that. We didn't see any seaweed anywhere on Orient.

So we headed down to Kakao for lunch.



We both opted for specials for lunch. I had the ginger beef with Oriental sauce, which was very tasty.




It was similar to Dreams' bo bun nem salad, although not quite as good. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Smile.gif" alt="" />

Eric had a salmon filet with spinach, wrapped in puff pastry and served with a butter cream sauce.

[img]http://www.info-res.com/ehill/ttol/bsv2016/ksalmoninpuffpastry.jpg[/img]


He thoroughly enjoyed it! Kakao was moderately busy on the beach and by the time we left, the restaurant itself was pretty busy, with mostly what appeared to be locals or French tourists. It was a lovely lunch. I do enjoy their individual dining areas there.

[img]http://www.info-res.com/ehill/ttol/bsv2016/kview.jpg[/img]

So, it was back to the house for a couple hours and then we headed over to the Boat Bar for a couple of drinks and a "special" pizza.

[img]http://www.info-res.com/ehill/ttol/bsv2016/pizza.jpg[/img]

We had intended to make it to Sunset yesterday but didn't get there. Soon come.

[img]http://www.info-res.com/ehill/ttol/bsv2016/sbag.jpg[/img]

We weren't real hungry, so half of the pizza came home with us. It was another early night, such party animals we are!!

Nice pictures and good looking pizza.

Great photos, keep them coming.

Glad you enjoyed it.

Thanks for the beautiful photos, Carol. I especially liked the shot from Paradise View.

Thanks for the ongoing reports and photos! I'm happy to hear the food at Kakao is still great, as I was concerned when I learned that the long-time chef had resigned last December. Looks like they haven't missed a beat!

Yes, everything we had was very good and good service also. No complaints at all. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Grin.gif" alt="" /> Several things on the menu looked good, but the specials that day looked especially good and they were.

Good weather at the time also. So everything was great.

Great view from there, and of course she could not stay out of the shops..... so she supported the local businesses!!! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Grin.gif" alt="" /> Knew we should not have stopped! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/jester.gif" alt="" /> Oh Well! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/jester.gif" alt="" /> You can not take it with you! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Grin.gif" alt="" /> Keep telling myself that! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/duh.gif" alt="" />

Thanks. I liked that shot too. I am thinking about perhaps blowing that one up.

The food was very good. We enjoyed it!

Here is my thought on the salmon and spinach in the pastry:

Small layer of spinach at the bottom of the plate. On top of that was a salmon steak (not small, maybe 1/2 inch or more of salmon steak). Covered the entire top of the dish with puff pastry. Assume maybe an egg wash or something along the side of of plate (see picture), as it was "glued" to the side all around.

The ramiken was was filled with a white cream butter sauce that you poured over the top of the puffed pastry salmon. Lemon wedge on the side and rice piloff and grilled red peppers and think maybe zucchini slices over the peppers.

Great combination! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/dine.gif" alt="" />

Think it would be a great recipe at home and easy. Only thing, the first bite was hot... meaning had to let it cool so you did not burn your mouth. That and you had to only put on part of the cream butter sauce (which I did) at the beginning and then put more on, so it covered the salmon steak after you got into the dish.

Either that or just use the fork to move the sauce around some. But it was fanatastic! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Yikes.gif" alt="" />

Only other thought --- it was rich, because of the butter cream sauce, but do not think that would be an option to do without on this dish. And the bread/baguette was a good addition to have with the main course, you did not want to miss any of the sauce and salmon and having extra baguette was helpful! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Grin.gif" alt="" />

But if you like salmon, this would be a keeper at home even! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/dine.gif" alt="" />

Thanks for the details, and I agree that it would be pretty simple to recreate at home! We almost always end up getting the specials there, and make it our main meal of the day.

Yes it was very good. Maybe it was (the salmon 1/4 to 1/2 thick) but it was a salmon steak. So that was part of the "trick". Having a salmon steak was really good.

I could see making this at home really easy. Something that I just had not thought about --- then on the special --- sounded great! And it was! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/dine.gif" alt="" />

Just to make sure -- the pasty was NOT on the bottom of the dish. Just over the top and on the sides, glued -- I assume with egg wash?

Yes, I would guess that's how they would adhere it to the dish. It wouldn't puff and would be soggy on the bottom, so just putting it on the top is smart.

Regarding the spinach. I do not think it was fresh spinach. Unless they really cut it a lot. Thinking it was more of a canned spinach, drained really well. The plate was not soggy or soupy at all.

But thinking with the salmon, either you would have to cook the spinach before hand or used canned. Otherwise the salmon would be really dried out. And that was not the case at all.

I don't know, fresh baby spinach cooks pretty quickly. I've also used frozen chopped spinach in recipes with good success, just thaw it out and squeeze all the moisture out of it.

Thanks for the report-I love the food pics & descriptions-

Really nice pictures. And that lunch at Orient looked delish! We haven't been to Kakao's in quite a while but think we may need to put it on our list for next year.

Enjoying your reports and photos, thanx! Used to be at orient almost every day of vacation, haven't been down that way in a few years...don't miss it or all the crowds any more, but nice to see what's happening there! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Wink.gif" alt="" />

The spinach could be a riff on spinach florentine
Squeeze out the moisture from frozen spinach, saute onions [shallots] and garlic and add spinach, quick cook and layer on the bottom of the dish [a little red pepper flake would be nice] The butter sauce on the side is a nice deconstruction vs adding some in the dish, and lets you add calories / richness as you like [I'd save some for the baguette!]
Lots of options

J&B

Great photos! Wow Pedro's has spiffed the place up since January!! Looks like fresh paint.
Not fussy on that wood railing in front of all the places. It detracts from the look of the buildings.
Food looks great. Keep up the great reports!! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Joy.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Joy.gif" alt="" />

Could be, it was not big leafy type.

So that would have to be experimented with?

Saving some for the baguette, was definitely a good thing! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/dine.gif" alt="" />

Did not notice any shallots/onions in the mix or even garlic, but that would not be bad either. Does not mean it was not there, but did not notice it.

Calories................ not a concern!!! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/jester.gif" alt="" />

But I think this could be something that could be done at home, without a lot of trouble. And it was really, really good.

It could be a dish at home that is not really that hard, but is special. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/dine.gif" alt="" />

No crowds the other day at all.

We actually had not been there in a while also. Last year and this year, but before just been a while, not off the list at all, just had not been there.

So it was specifically lunch yesterday -- sort of planned it with the venture around. Everything was good! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/dine.gif" alt="" />

So many places, so little time.... what to do? <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Grin.gif" alt="" />

Actually the new units and area really do look good. I hope they all can make it. As far a appearance, it really is a step up. Parking is so much better, many things are better. Progress/change is not always good, but in this case, maybe it is good. Or at least, it should be given a try anyway?

Yes, I thought Pedro's did look a lot better.

Thanks for all the great pictures of the "new" Orient Beach.

Thanks for the post and your nice pictures!

Great pics. We were there 5/17 for a few hours off a cruise ship, not many people there, only 1 cruise ship in port.

Thanks for the report Carol. Did you notice if Chez Leandra is open? I think it will be the purple building.

Thanks for the Orient update and great pics.

No, I don't think so. I didn't see any sign for it anyway. At least half of the places seemed closed. As I said, while Aloha has been open for a few months now, it wasn't open that day.

Absolutely GORGEOUS pictures! Thanks for taking the time to post them. I am enjoying each and every one of them!!

You're welcome!

The dish does look delicious. I do something similar at home but instead of putting it in the ramekin I layer the spinach and salmon on top of either puff pastry or filo dough and roll it up and then bake it in a hot oven. I have also started with a layer of brown and wild rice, then the spinach and then the salmon. Thank you and Carol for the daily reports and the fabulous pictures.

Love the photos Carol and details. Orient sure looks different but colorful! I agree that Pedro's definitely looks spiffy <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Groovin.gif" alt="" />. Wishes for continued fun.

It was reported that it would be open this Sunday if all goes as planned.